Hello,

I have, quite literally, been bitten by the "bug." Conrail made 3 small shop switchers out of old locomotive trucks, two being EMD, one being ALCo. The crews deemed these little critters "bugs," quite fitting. I have found various sources stating that one of the bugs, a yellow one, is preserved with a historical society. Another, CR No. 0, is still speculatively working at the Enola, PA yard. The most recent photo I have found of 0 was from 2016. The last, being on a ALCo truck, is X481, I have found no info of this engine, except that it did exist.

Does anyone know more about the current dispositions of these critters? and around what time they were constructed?

[Disclaimer: the photos I have linked are for relevance only, I do not own them and all respect given to the original copyright holders.]

Thanks in advance,

Connor.

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0 is still working the Enola wheel shop.

Is it possible they may have come from tenders? At least some tenders had solid pockets like this, and I think the odds of a tender hanging around would be greater than for a locomotive.

Either way, it's still amazing to see something like this being reused today, complete with a slotted knuckle!!

On my visits to the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, PA, during the yard tour, there was what appeared to be one of these “bug” shop switchers. It still had rather faded Conrail blue with the well known “CR” mark from the early days covered up on the sides. In addition, also partially covered and faded away, was the unmistakable disco stripe logo of NJ Transit.

I’ve also come across, although I don’t remember where at the moment, a photo of this unit on the old CNJ transfer table at Elizabethport in the 1980s with the NJT stripe fully intact.

Is this one of the bugs previously described, or is this one another unit?

"I assume that the bugs were powered by batteries, and were radio controlled?"

Batteries Yes.

The first unit X 481 has a yellow platform hanging off the bottom of the truck equalizer bar. And some controls on the side of battery compartment, forward/reverse/throttle ?

Talk about an "open air cab"....

The yellow one was donated to a group in New Castle, PA and later on sold to Truck Electric. I last saw the remains of it at their facility in McDonald, OH.

The 'Bugs" were used to spot locomotives on the underfloor wheel machines. The controls were mounted on the side. There was a small one lung air compressor driven by a DC fuel pump motor for straight air brakes. I seem to recall one having the controls on a tether which made it easier for one man to make a spot.

EBL

The Milwaukee Road had a similar 'critter' at their Deer Lodge, Montana shop. This one was powered by an extension cord (I wonder if it ever got run over while switching!).

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/640152/

X3800 is now on display in Harlowton, at the Milwaukee Depot Museum

"The Milwaukee Road had a similar 'critter' at their Deer Lodge, Montana shop. This one was powered by an extension cord (I wonder if it ever got run over while switching!)."

I remember a photo of a similar "bug" at the NYCRR Harmon NY shops where all the electric loco's running into/out-of Grand Central were serviced. I think it was powered by an extension cord as well.. Could not find the picture offhand..

The NYCS Harmon "bug" was made out of a riveted-frame MU car truck.

There were also long jumpers that hung from the ceiling and had a big hunk of bare bronze on the insulated end. One shopman would hold that against a third rail shoe on a loco or MU car, while a hostler operated the unit's controller; this was used for spotting in the shop and also for "live testing" of a unit's circuits. There was no actual third rail inside the shop building.

Howard P.

Pretty sure I saw CR X481 sitting behind the shop at Steamtown when I was a kid. I asked what it was, and they told me it was a battery powered Alco truck.